sorry for the late reply. i've enjoyed voom so far. the hd stuff is great and 5.1 sound is pretty good too. it does have some teething issues, so i'd recomend going to
http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=24 for more info. the nice thing is, you can try it out for for about $80 a month. no strings apparently
thanks for the suggestions regarding the remotes.
frank